I’ve had my Inspiron mini for about a year and I still love it. It fits in my purse (along with my kindle) and it weighs next to nothing. I’ve taken it to conferences and on vacation. I have a portable DVD/CD burner to install programs and burn discs. I have another regular laptop and 5 other pcs but this is the only one I’ve ever bragged about and showed to strangers. I type about 65wpm and love the keyboard. (I have big hands for a woman.) This is not my fastest computer by any means and I have the XP version but this little guy has made me happy. Also, on several nights I’ve fallen asleep with it and can’t tell you how many times I’ve literally kicked it out of bed not to mention all the times I’ve dropped it and it seems invincible. I’m using it now while I’m lounged back in my recliner watching big screen TV. I can hardly tell it’s on my lap at all except for some warmth. (I’ll probably end up sleeping with it tonight.)

The only thing I might change is getting another one with a faster processor. I can’t justify doing that right now because I’m just too pleased with this tough, easy to use little puter.

I agree with the reviewer who complained about the touchpad. It’s the one thing I dislike about this computer. It’s a great piece of hardware for the money. It’s small and light (obviously); the keyboard is very nice (even for a guy who’s 6’2″ with moderately large hands); the small screen is quite workable (and I’m a heavy user of both of the large screens on my office desktop); it’s thoughtfully laid out (eg USB ports on both sides). I bought it to travel with, take notes with at meetings, do email, run itunes, maybe a little skyping (it has a built in camera) – that kind of thing, and it seems like it will do all those well. Would not want to have sit in front of it for 8 hours, but that’s not what it was designed for. If the ipad with 3G was out, I might have bought that instead. My only reservation is the touchpad. Hopefully, there’s a trick to it and I’ll adjust.

I just got the Dell Mini 1012 Netbook… and choose this over ASUS 1005, HP 210 and Samsung mainly because of three reasons:

One, its feels solid…feel more like a laptop.. not any cheap old plastic netbook, Second, the keyboard rocks, simply amazing to type… its not a chiclet keyboard 🙂 but feels like a real-keyboard. I am typing a little over 80 WPM on it (thats what I get on my regular laptop).. 🙂 Finally, the screen is amazing, very clear and bright, better than ASUS or HP or MSI .. go to a store like BestBuy and see them in action and compare. YouTube picture quality has been amazing.

I have used the Atom N270 Netbook before, but the Atom N450 is cool.. I can run Powerpoint, Word Doc and Internet Explorer at the same time… and switching between the Apps without any delay.. almost like a regular notebook — with N270 it literally used to hang 🙂 Also, I am getting more than 8 hours of battery life with thoese Applications, which is cool.

I’ve not been a fan of that many netbooks out there, but this little guy really blew me away. I got to compare this netbook up against netbooks from ASUS, Acer, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and Gateway (a pretty exhaustive line-up). There was a sharp contrast between Dell’s Mini 10 series and netbooks made by the other companies. To me, the buying decision really came down to comfort and ingenuity of its design. I find others choosing this model mostly for the same reasons.

===== It’s Comfortable ===== This thing is a dream to use. Most netbooks are unusable to me. What stings me most with netbooks is the keyboard. I’m used to the low-profile, “chiclet-style” scissor-switch keyboards that are (or at least used to be) most common in laptops, and in fact I love them. I’m referring to the type of keys that are flat and flush with the palm rest, and have a little flange or lip on the edges (where the space is between the keys). To see exactly what I mean, check out the close ups here on the right (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00361G10S?tag=a52-20&ie=UTF8#productDescription). These types of keyboards make typing a breeze, as they won’t inflict wrist strain due to tall keys or keys that require more force to press.

===== It’s Innovative ===== The touch pad is small, yet clever, allowing you to press down on the bottom-left/bottom-right corners of the pad to left-click/right-click (respectively), rather than wasting space by implementing separate buttons. The touch pad is also very touchable, as its texture and finish is matte, rather than glossy, making it much more conducive to swiping your fingers across than most of the other netbooks I laid fingers on. Most netbooks’ touch pads were glossy, making your skin shear and resist the dragging gestures. I find such a feeling to be nearly as annoying as fingernails on a chalkboard! The other netbooks were also noticeably covered in oily smudges and finger grease, both inside the track pad and also on the wrist rest. Instant turn off for me on anything but the Dell! The Mini 10 on the other hand was smudge free, thanks to their use of an oil-resistant softly-textured palm-rest.

===== It’s Brilliant ===== The display is crisp and bright, and it isn’t too shabby outside either, though I recommend using full brightness when being used outdoors. My only complaint about the screen is its native resolution is a bit low for my tastes, which I hope isn’t just a personal preference. I’d rather see more on the screen than to see things big and close up. However, this is par for netbooks anyway. You should look into this Sony (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PII4HW?tag=a52-20&ie=UTF8) if you absolutely must have a higher definition display while maintaining the small form factor of a netbook.

===== It’s Media Friendly ===== The built in HD media excellerator and the 9:16 ratio widescreen 10.1″ display is great for watching hi-def movies on the go, with one very important exception: you must have an external DVD (or Blu-Ray) drive. I recommend this Samsung (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002C1BBU8?tag=a52-20&ie=UTF8) which sports a sexy look, on par with the Dell ‘s own appeal, without sacrificing functionality. Video playback is generally smooth and very few hiccups in playback have been experienced.

===== It’s Stylish ===== You wont mind being seen with one of these, especially given the choice of colors, you can’t go wrong in customizing. Dell really puts their feet forward in coming through on their philosophy of customization. Some people buy netbooks for the look. If you’re one of these vain PC users, you’ll rest easy knowing you’ve got one sexy looking netbook! I chose the white, personally.

===== It’s Capable ===== The Dell Mini isn’t exactly your run of the mill netbook. Sure, it can do what the others do, and I’ve typically used it for writing and surfing the Web (after all, surfing was the original presmise of the netbook, hense the name). Just be sure to keep your browser tabs to a minimum and not install too many Firefox extensions, and you’ll be fine. But it plays media, including Web videos, Flash sites and Flash games, at a decent pace. As long as you aren’t trying to multi-task by running several other programs at once, you should be just fine.

Windows 7 starters is an ideal OS for the netbook, and it even outperforms XP in several areas, so you can’t go wrong in using it. The memory card reader is an added bonus. I didn’t think it would be all that useful, but it is a life-saver when traveling.

===== Processor and Battery ===== The Dell Mini 1012 features the Intel Atom N450, a